Long night
by imanaddict
Summary: house contracts an unusual condition. can the ducklings figure it out in time to save house?
1. just the start

Long night

"Drs. House and Wilson signing out at 5pm" stated house in mid stride with Wilson out of PPTH. After a pretty uneventful Friday they decided to go out for some beers and perhaps a pizza.

"So where we headin'?" Wilson asked while fishing his car keys out of his pocket "you want to go to that pizza place near my house?"

"Sure, wherever…" _just let me sit down somewhere, get off my damn feet_

"You don't sound keen" Wilson was once again slightly concerned, for the umpteenth time this week Greg had seemed a bit distracted… he'd wait till later to ask.

"Course I am, as soon as I get pizza in me the better" House was once again worried, he couldn't feel his leg properly again, and felt himself having to lean on the cane more and more each day.

"Ok, if you say so" they had reached Wilson's car and soon enough they were at "Caine's pizza hut" a bit low brow, but that's all they needed for a lazy night out. Maybe he could cheer house up after a few beers.

"Ill just have the medium pepperoni", oh, and another beer " Wilson thanked the waitress as he waited for house to make his order.

"Hmmmm, ill have the pepperoni, ham, cheese and olives, large, oh and make that another four beers"

"House! I wasn't actually planning on getting _that _smashed tonight, Julies going to kill me"

"What the heck Wilson, it's a Friday, lighten up! You've only had three" house did his lopsided grin at him and considered the matter closed. He didn't want to get Wilson suspicious._ This should help the leg_

The food came over and soon they were both blindly drunk glugging down beer carelessly while laughing about random things that happened over the past week. And of course House kept the beers coming.

"Soo… hick! …You gonna tell me what you were up to yesterday with that nurse… now even _I_ know thatwasn't just being polite." House hiccupped in between mouthfuls of pizza.

"What nurse… Lola? She's in a relationship already Greg, just as I am! Just 'cause I can talk to a member of the female species without insulting them or giving them my number, no need to get jealous" Wilson slurred his words slightly and kicked himself for getting drunk, this was supposed to be the night he investigated House's behaviour. _I'll ask him in a minute_

"Come off it, you know you have the hots for her, Julie would be disappointed" his head lolled from side to side in what was supposed to be him shaking his head.

Wilson looked skyward "yeah… whatever you say"

"Got you there didn't I, looks like no one can avoid my steel like interrogations"

"Well then its my turn to interrogate _you" this had better be a good idea "_what's been up with you lately, you've not been yourself"

"Great way to interrupt the fun. What are you talking about, I'm fine"

"Yeah, and that's what you keep saying, seriously, what's wrong?" He tried to sober up a bit; he needed to find out about house, he just hoped he'd remember this conversation by tomorrow.

"Nothing, I'm fine!" house said that a bit too loudly, and Wilson could see he was getting agitated.

"You call THAT fine?" _just tell me Greg, maybe I could help_

"Yup, time for more beer" house started to get up

"No Greg, I think we've had enough"

"One more won't hurt" House was nearly on his feet when suddenly his leg gave out and he plummeted to the floor, his head hitting the edge of another table.

"Shit! Greg!" Wilson sprang to the side of house and panicked at the sight of blood on the side of his head. "Greg, Greg! Are you alright!" house groaned and blinked a few times. Yet he didn't seem that surprised. Wilson knew there was more to this than meets the eye.

"Ugh, I'm okay, help me up"

"What about your head?"

"Just a scratch"

"Come off it"

"Look, you going to help me up or what?" house reached out his arm and Wilson tried to pull him up, but Greg wouldn't get off the ground.

"Why aren't you getting up? Come on" Greg just looked at him, and as he looked back, he saw panic. It hit him. He couldn't get up!

"I cant feel my legs… wh…why cant I feel my legs!…Argh!"

"Greg…what's wrong?"

Suddenly there was a blinding pain in his head, and his head seemed to cloud up…then darkness.

"Greg! Shit! Shit! Someone call 911!"


	2. a diagnosis

I don't own house, and if I did then…. We would know about it haha.

Sorry about the medical treatment, ill try my best, but I'm no doctor.

Please R&R

Chapter 2: ideas

"What in the hell happened?" Cuddy quizzed Wilson as House was rushed to the ER. House had not yet regained consciousness, much to the dismay of Wilson.

"He said he couldn't move his legs, not just his bad one either, I think maybe it has been going on longer than we realise"

"What do you mean?" Cuddy knew House was perfectly capable of keeping something like this under wraps, which only frustrated her more.

"This whole past week or even before that he's seemed a bit distracted, I think he knew about his legs, maybe not what's wrong with them, but I know he hasn't been himself"

"If its just a leg problem, why the head injury?" _And I thought they had had a fight_. But then she knew House wouldn't have been the only one with injuries, that cane could pack a punch.

"I have no idea, one minute he's up, next he's on the floor unconscious, his head hit a table edge on the way down but it shouldn't have caused for him to be out for this long"

"Well I'm afraid we cant jump to any conclusions just yet, treat him for the bash to his head and try to figure why he couldn't move his legs" Cuddy had looked extremely flustered by this sudden news, but she still had to get one with her other jobs. The emergency team wheeled house to a cubicle and set monitors around him.

12 hours later and house still remained comatose, to which Wilson ordered a PET brain scan. he had ordered the ducklings in on this case, as he knew they would be Houses best chance, especially as House himself couldn't do much.

"Ok, well the scan shows some inflammation of the brain in the lower back region, but we do not yet know what is causing this, we are considering tumour, but we cannot be certain if that is what's impairing his control of his legs" explained chase, eager to help House in anyway he could.

"Maybe the inflammation could be affecting his nerve signals?" offered Cameron, she was shocked to hear about House, but refused to get emotional over it.

"In which case we will need a more detailed MRI scan on the area of his brain which controls limb movement, and rule out any other sites of inflammation" said foreman confidently.

"Ok then, lets do it" Wilson knew we wasn't needed in this case, oncology wouldn't do House many favours at the moment, but he couldn't bear to leave his best friend at such a crucial time. Cuddy had been understanding and had let him get involved on the condition that he didn't ignore his other patients. He dragged himself away from Houses side, knowing he needed a break after being with him all night.

He passed Houses office; ruefully accepting that he wouldn't see him in there for quite a while. But he refused to acknowledge how serious House's condition may be, and kept telling himself it would be over soon. He reached his office and sank down into his chair, dragging a tired hand over his face and resting it there. _I should have asked earlier, he may have been all right if I had found out and got him to a doctor sooner. _"Dammit, Greg, why do you always have to hide anything about you!" he grabbed a paperweight and flung it to the floor; later grateful it hadn't reached any of his glass windows. He didn't feel any like visitors.

* * *

The MRI scan came back negative; there were no other signs of inflammation anywhere in his brain. But that also meant that there was nothing to account for his loss of control in his legs.

"What now?" asked Cameron.

"We just need to find another reason for his leg paralysis" Wilson tried to stay positive

"Are you sure his legs are correlated to his brain inflammation? Maybe he just sat down for too long" ventured foreman, ever the doubtful one, was starting to doubt the accuracy of House's symptoms.

"look, you weren't there, he couldn't move them, at all"

"hey I'm just saying, if we ruled out the leg paralysis, this could be much easier treated, I mean, we don't even know what's wrong with him yet, is it meningitis, cerebritis, cerebral abscess?"

"there are no other symptoms to suggest meningitis, or cerebritus , but cerebral abscess could explain whythe abscessis in an isolated area, which means a bacteria or fungi has gotten into his blood stream at some point, and since he has had no surgery recently, I would say it must have entered him either through his stomach or he has contracted it through his lungs, or perhaps even an infection in his middle ear, but i'm sure, wilson, you would have noticed if and ear infection was the case." Wilson nodded, chase was onto something here.

"…not only that, but it can affect balance and coordination, this could be the reason he went down In the first place, maybe his legs weren't paralysed, he might have just been disorientated" Cameron morale went up a few notches with the hope of a diagnosis.

"He _did _seem to be acting strangely , which could be due to neurological problems caused by the abscess, like inattention, irritability, decreasing responsiveness, heck, maybe even confusion, he hasn't exactly been open to us about what his symptoms could be." Wilson didn't like the sound of this as he knew that this meant there was a good reason why House hadnt woken up: eventual coma."well then, lets get a needle biopsy to identify the infecting organism."

"OK" the three ducklings chimed together.


End file.
